prayer updates April 2011

I want to update pray-ers on how things are coming with previous requests.

1/  Digging at the well in Fulani nomad village of Duduya has progressed to 26 yrds deep, but blasting in the very hard rock is slow, and not much more water has been found.  We will stop in a few days and wait until after the coming rainy season. Pray for God's provision of funds to reach 30 yrds deep.  btw:  It is very hot and dry here now, it was over 120 degrees the other day (in shade) with promise that Easter will be celebrated on a very hot day.

2/ Our good friend Hasel Sow, an older Fulani nomad, is very sick with a cancer, and Jim hopes to visit him in Assoum soon with some other Fulani believers to encourage him and to be encouraged in the word and faith.

Hasel on left ready to pour his tea,
Oumar on right, one of the Bile school students

3/ The reconciliation process of the Malian church association, AGEMPEM, is moving, but slowly.  The next meeting, where we expect good progress, is not until June!  It is critical to achieve much more progress before assembly meets again in September.  Pray for wisdom for the reconciliation committee members:  Pastors Dondo and Kalan, Ruth, & Jim.

4/  Some missionary coworkers have been hit by severe challenges of health and culture adaption, pray especially for new workers Andrew, Sherry and Eva.  Andrew spent three months with us in Kayes and is now hosting as Chinese team from Hong Kong in Dakar.  He will return to Canada in June before Mary and he come back to Kayes in September.

5/ Two Fulani brothers are studying in Bible schools: Ousman in Cameroon is writing his final thesis, on polygamy in Senegal, and Oumar is back in Benin for his 2nd year of studies.  UWM is helping partly with their scholarships.

6/ The Malian Malinké pastors will be helping churches in the Nyagala and Bafing areas with evangelism campaigns.  Pray for hosting pastors Toma, Joel, & Yousouf, as they work with Pierre, Sekou, Eli, and Jacques.  Also, Pastors Founeké and Pierre will be conducting a dry season preparatory school for mountain village kids in Kenieba in May.

Jim's Journal from Aug 4th, 2006 -Contacts with COMINAD

I’ve had some great contact this summer with several African-American pastors and churches. This is in regards to getting the Beninois pastors to come to MALI as missionaries. We stayed in Detroit with the director of COMINAD, Rev Brian Johnson and his wife Ruth. This is the partnership of churches that is seeking to effect reconciliation in Africa and to wake up the black churches of America for more involvement in missions. One of their key ideas is for a local American church to adopt a small village and to build a relationship with them. We are hoping that Duduya, near Kayes, and Assoum, further north, will be adopted in the near future.

We met with leaders from three churches in Detroit and another in Chicago. And just this week Bishop Robert Winn and his wife Mattie, of California, came and spent a couple days here in Baltimore with us talking about these ideas. It was wonderful to see several who have already been to Kayes, such as Ethelyn Taylor who came just last Oct ‘05, and to meet her pastor Everett Lindsay of Christ Temple in Chicago. We also met with Rev. Walter Godfrey, of St Paul Church in Detroit who also came last fall. It was neat to see a poster board displaying the pictures of every one in the village in Bénin that they have adopted. Each picture was displayed with the name of the church member who is daily paying for the person! Then I had the joy of seeing again Rev. Charles Oliver and Rev George Washington and the wives and congregations in Detroit. Both had come on the first COMINAD visit in 2001! In discussions with Rev Godfrey, Rev Johnson, and then later with Rev Winn we worked on the agreement between COMINAD, the Church of Christ Holiness, the UWM, and the UEEB churches in Benin. Brian Johnson is currently in Ghana and Benin and has met with the church leaders again to further plan this process. It looks like several will visit again in late October and probably work on the actual adoption in Duduya.